Fujin walked up the stairs, as many looked at him in awe and confusion. Fujin thought, 'Well, that went well. He pretty much lost it by exhausting his chakra by using 2 rank B jutsus. My clone could have easily dodged the Ice Dragon too. But seeing how exhausted he was, there was no need to. After all, that blue-eyed girl should have noticed me. So if I won with even my clone still fine, then my opponent would be extremely careful.'
After entering the waiting room, Fujin sat next to Hoka and Mieko. Yumi and Sora were soon called and they went down. Inoichi soon announced, "The second battle starts now. BEGIN!"
Sora immediately ran behind, while Yumi started with Water shuriken jutsu. He created a water wall to block her jutsu while retreating into the woods thinking, 'I can't fight her in open fields. She is too dangerous.'
Yumi followed him into the woods. They began fighting in the woods. Sora used the trees as a shield and cover to attack her, but Yumi managed to defend and counterattack every time. They maintained this deadlock for around 10 minutes.
Fujin wondered, 'While he does fight well in the woods, he has no advantage. So why was he so quick in entering the woods?'
After 10 minutes, Yumi finally managed to land a lethal hit. Her Water Bullet left a deep cut on Sora's thigh. The wound made it harder for him to move.
Yumi looked at him and said, "You are wounded, you can't fight anymore." Sora gritted his teeth. Yumi glared at him and said, "Give up, or it will be very painful for you!"
Color drained off his face on hearing that. He gave up.
Inoichi announced, "Second Match winner is Sakai Yumi!"
Fujin observed the fight carefully and thought, 'Why was he so afraid?' He looked at Hoka and concluded, 'I wonder how her fight with Hoka will go.'
Hoka got up. Fujin said, "Good luck Hoka. Win quickly." Mieko also wished him luck.
Before Satoru left, Kohaku reminded him once again to not get close to the Hyuga.
While the next candidates were arriving on the ground, the judges discussed again. Ibiki commented, "Both were good. However, Sora seemed to be afraid of her."
Raido agreed, "Yes. And he seemed too impatient to run into the woods. As if he didn't want to fight her in the open at all."
Genma didn't comment and just made some notes.
Hoka and Satoru arrived on the ground.
Inoichi announced, "The Third match starts now. BEGIN!"
Satoru immediately moved backwards while making hand signs. Hoka followed and made a few hand signs too.
'Water Shuriken Jutsu'
'Stone Shuriken Jutsu'
Both launched their jutsus simultaneously. Fujin and Mieko were surprised, 'Hoka started with Ninjutsu? Really?'
Some water and stone shurikens clashed. The stone shurikens went through the water shurikens dispersing them, but their momentum decreased. Hoka and Satoru dodged the remaining shurikens.
Hoka immediately began closing distance, while Satoru once again moved back while making hand signs. Hoka sighed and made a hand sign too.
Mieko commented, "It looks like a game of tag." Fujin chuckled.
The water jet hit the rock shield but it couldn't damage it. Water just bounced back from the rock.
Satoru frowned. He made a few more hand signs, 'Water clone jutsu'
3 Water clones appeared, and they began running towards the rock shield. Satoru wondered, 'Why is he hiding behind the rock instead of chasing me?'
At that instant, he suddenly felt a pain in his left foot, he immediately jumped and looked down. Multiple Rock thorns had appeared under him, almost looking like a bed. Two of those thorns hit his foot, one of them making him bleed.
Suddenly, the rock thorns launched themselves into the air at him. He panicked and immediately made hand signs to create a Water wall below him. But a few rock thorns hit him before the water wall was formed.
Even after it was formed, a few still made it through and hit him. He slowly fell down out of the way of the rock thorns. On landing, he winced. 8 Rock thorns had stabbed him. None were lethal, but they hurt a lot.
His water clones were confused about what to do. However, they decided to attack Hoka. However, on reaching, they noticed that Hoka wasn't behind the rock.
As soon as Satoru landed, 2 hands popped out of the ground and grabbed his legs. 'Headhunter jutsu'
Immediately, he was buried underground, while Hoka appeared above the ground.
Satoru yelled very loudly. As he was being pulled underground, the thorns on him hit the ground. 3 of those horns couldn't go underground with him, which resulted in huge cuts before they were pushed out of his body.
The pain made him lose control over his water clones and they turned into water. Hoka was about to place 2 fingers in front of Satoru's forehead and ask him to quit. However, the yell filled with agony made him stop.
Inoichi immediately appeared and helped Satoru out of the ground. He had 3 six inch long cuts. One on his chest, one near his abdomen, and one on his back. And there were still 5 more rock thorns embedded in him. Medics quickly rushed to the ground and took him away.
Inoichi announced, "Third Match winner is Hyuga Hoka!"
The crowd, which was shocked by Satoru's yells, began cheering once again. Yumi and Kohaku watched with grim faces. They looked at Hoka and thought, 'He used the Rock shield jutsu to block Satoru's line of sight and went underground. From there, he used 2 jutsus to sneak attack and then dealt the final blow. During the 2nd phase, he barely used any ninjutsu. We underestimated him!'
Fujin analyzed, 'Damn, never expected him to win with Ninjutsu. Stone Shuriken jutsu, Rock Shield jutsu, Rock Thorn Bed jutsu, Rock Thorn Launch jutsu and Headhunter jutsu. Winning against him might not be that easy anymore. That said, his speed of using jutsu isn't as fast as mine or Mieko's. He just used the fact that the opponent was distracted by having to maintain a distance from him.'
The judges also analyzed. Ibiki said, "Very good performance. He won very quickly without wasting much chakra."
Genma chuckled, "How long has it been since we saw a Hyuga fighting without using Gentle Fist?"
Raido said, "He seems ready to be promoted to chunin. As for Satoru, he isn't ready." Both Ibiki and Genma nodded.
Hoka's parents were proud of their son for winning so quickly. His father said, "Finally I managed to get him to use Ninjutsu!" Hoka's mother nodded. She knew how difficult it was for him.
Mieko stood up. Fujin looked at her and said, "Good luck." She nodded and went to the ground. Kohaku followed her while muttering to herself, "Don't look into her eyes…"
They both reached the center of the ground and faced each other. However, Kohaku never once looked at Mieko's face.
Inoichi announced, "The Fourth match starts now. BEGIN!"